Religious Liberty
Items on free exercise of religion, freedom of conscience, and religious persecution
Loconte on A New Vision for Human Rights
Thu 16 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
TF Moderator Joseph Loconte has an op-ed with Nile Gardiner in the Boston Globe of 16 June 2005.
In “A new vision for human rights”, Loconte and Gardiner call for a fundamental reform of the U.N. human rights apparatus—or for its replacement if no reform can be made to happen.
The Philosopher and the Ayatollah
Thu 16 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Amazing and surprisingly nuanced article in the Boston Globe (hat-tip—ALD) on Michel Foucault’s initial infatuation with the Islamist revolution in Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini.
The article, by Wesley Yang, is titled “The philosopher and the ayatollah: In 1978, Michel Foucault went to Iran as a novice journalist to report on the unfolding revolution. His dispatches — now fully available in translation — shed some light on the illusions of intellectuals in our own time.”
The article is inspired by the publication of Kevin Anderson and Janet Afary’s Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Yang offers an interesting balance of appreciation for Foucault’s courageous insights and his ideologically driven blindness, and definitely helps us appreciate the way worldviews or ideologies shape actions. Two quotes from the article follow:
Guinness Review in Wilson Quarterly
Mon 06 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
Trinity Forum founder and Moderator Os Guinness has published a review of a new book on religion and politics worldwide in the Spring 2005 issue of The Wilson Quarterly.
Discussing Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart. Dr. Guinness welcomes their contribution to the research and understanding of religion in public life but suggests that their approach contains a fundamental weakness. Two clips follow.
U.S. Supreme Court Unanimous on Religious Liberty
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
I’m very pleased to see news of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cutter v. Wilkinson, upholding a section of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA") that protects the religious exercise of prisoners.
There is commentary and further information at The Becket Fund.
The Becket Fund drafted and filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in Cutter on behalf of over fifty religious and civil rights organizations, ranging from People for the American Way to the American Center for Law and Justice. Denominational groups on the brief included Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, and others.
Useful commentary also from Notre Dame professor Richard Garnett on National Review Online, including a commendation of Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion.
Loconte on Religious Freedom in the Middle East
Tue 31 May 2005 by Peter Edman
TF Moderator Joseph Loconte has an article out in the 28 May 2005 issue of The Weekly Standard, “The Unmentionable Freedom: A new report on reform in the Arab world ignores religious liberty.”
[M]ost Islamic leaders and institutions--and now the scholars of the Arab Human Development Report--seem to have sworn an oath of silence about the problem of religious oppression, especially the plight of Muslims who challenge state orthodoxy on religious grounds. The lack of religious liberty prevents debate over the meaning of Islamic texts--a crucial step in offering a progressive interpretation of Islam. For all the talk of a "freedom deficit," the authors of the U.N. report fail to recognize the unique status of religious expression. They thus see no connection between the denial of religious rights and the political and economic stagnation of most of the world's 22 Arab states. Their two previous reports, which examined economic and educational issues, were similarly silent on the point.
The full text is for Standard subscribers only, but I will send a text version to interested Trinity Forum alumni .
A World Safe for Diversity
Mon 23 Oct 2000 by Os Guinness
Religious Liberty and the Rebuilding of the Public Philosophy
In this lecture from 2000, Os Guinness makes a case for the public role of faith as necessary for preserving diversity against tyranny and argues for ways to live together with our deepest differences.
